Extreme Weather Profile: January -- June, 2007

At the beginning of January, Colorado was hit by the second massive snowstorm in two weeks. After parts of the state were buried by a two-foot storm in late December, a second storm, dropping up to three feet in the southern part of the state, paralyzed much of Colorado at the beginning of the year more . . . In Brazil, intense rains triggered flooding and mudslides which left 50 people dead more. . . A second wave of violent rain swept through Malaysia in mid-January, burying one town under nine feet of water and driving about 90,000 people from their homes more. . . A severe ice storm swept through the midwestern US, coating trees, toppling power lines, leaving more than 100,000 homes without electricity and leaving 46 people dead in seven states more. . . A bitter winter storm in northern Europe snarled traffic, cut power to thousands in Britain, Germany and Austria and left three people dead more . . . In Southern Africa, devastating floods submerged towns, devastated crops and left thousands of villagers without shelter, food or water more . . .Alakans struggled through one of the snowiest winters in history, with 74 inches having fallen in late December and January, a three more months of winter to go more. . . With daffodils blooming in Holland and wildfires erupting in Hungary, many European countries are experiencing the warmest Jaunary in at least 300 years more . . . A sudden snowstorm blanketed the southeastern US, closing schools, snarling roads and canceling flights from Oklahoma to the Carolinasmore. . .

In central Florida, a series of severe storms flipped a tractor-trailer, destroyed mobile homes, killed 20 people and left thousands of people without power more . . . Intense rainstorms in Indonesia left more than 340,000 people homeless and inundated about half the capital city of Jakarta more. . . Following a week of record-setting, bone-chilling subzero temperatures in the Midwestern US which left some 20 people dead, a week-long "lake effect" snowstorm dropped 120 inches in upstate New York more. . . At the same time, heavy snow caused chaos in Britain, cancelling flights, closing schools and sending temperatures to 20 below F. more. . . In mid-February, intense flooding swept through Mozambique, killing at least 100 people, sweeping away whole villages and threatening to displace hundreds of thousands of residents more . . While parts of New York State were buried in record snowfalls, the city of Tokyo had received no snow by mid-February for the first time in 130 years of record keeping more . . .

As residents of the Midwestern US were still digging out from intense snowstorms at the beginning of February, a second round of paralyzing snow barreled through the region more . . . In Bolivia, the worst flooding in 25 years isolated villages, destroyed crops and left at least 35 people dead more. . . In late February, another massive snowstorm in the midwestern US dropped up to 17 inches of snow in Wisconsin and caused a 35-care pile-up in Kansasmore. . .

By the beginning of March, a severe drought in southwestern China had depleted water supplies and left six million people in danger of drinking water shortages more . . . In early March, a series of nightmarish tornadoes tore through the southern US, flattening towns, destroying schools and hospitals and leaving 20 people dead more . . . At the same time, yet another lethal snowstorm barreled through the midwestern US, knocking out power, snarling traffic, closing roads and leaving at least four people dead more. . . In mid-March, a series of cyclones tore across parts of Australia leaving at least three people dead, destroying towns and destroying a mining camp more. . . Flash flooding in the Fiji islands killed 5 people but spared another 13 who survived by clinging to a tree top more. . .

In late March, southern California was battered by snow, hail, rain and high winds which cut power to more than 185,000 people more. . . A spring storm triggered 65 tornadoes across the midwestern US, one of which was the size of two football fields more. . . At the beginning of April, deadly floods and avalanches in Afghanistan and Pakistan destroyed villages, killed scores of people and left hundreds homeless more . . . In early April, a freakish snowstorm dropped more than a foot of snow in parts of New England, leaving nearly 200,000 people with no power more. . . In Thailand, flash floods swept scores of people into three waterfalls, leaving at least 39 dead more. . . In the northeastern US, the storm that had buried areas of the Midwest under unseasonal snowdrifts, led to the worst flooding in more than a decade, killing 9 people, forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights and leaving 1.3 million people without power more . . .

In late April, the drought in southern Australia had become so severe that the government announced it was prohibiting crop irrigatation for more than 50,000 farmers more. . . At the same time, a downed power line triggered a drought-driven wildfire in southern Georgia which consumed 86 square miles and spread smoke as far away as Chattanoogamore. . . Meanwhile, a burst of severe weather dumped heavy snow. spawned tornadoes and triggered floods which killed at least nine people in Texas and Mexicomore . . . An unusually warm spring in Europe, where temperatures averaged 3 degrees above normal and warm dry weather set records in the Netherlands, kindled fears that this summer could bring a repeat of the killer summer heatwave of 2003 more. . .

At the beginning of May, storms tore through north Texas for three straight days, inundating whole towns and leaving more than 300,000 homes without power more. . . Spurred by the drying out of one of the country's largest rivers, the River Po, Italy declared a state of emergency brought on by an intense spring drought more. . . At the beginning of May, a monster tornado, with winds in excess of 200 mile per hour, tore through the midwest, demolishing the Kansas town of Greensburg more . . . Just days after parts of Kansas were ravaged by a killer tornado, the city of Topeka, about 200 miles nort, was inundated by a rainstorm that dropped more than six inches of rain in 24 hours more. . . The same rain system caused rivers in Missouri to overflow, inundating some towns with up to four feet of water more. . .

In mid-May, severe flooding in northern Afghanistan killed 24 people and destroyed more than 800 homes more. . . At the same time, a rash of intense thunderstorms played havoc in New York and two neighboring states, triggering 70 mile-per-hour winds in Brooklyn more. . . Central Texas was inundated by a torrential downpour that toppled trees and power lines, dropping eight inches of rain and killing at least one person more. . . One of the worst droughts in Florida's history has almost totally drained Lake Okeechobee more. . . In Port Au Prince, Haiti, intense rains and mudslides destroyed houses, killed three people and injured 11 others more. . . In Oklahoma, a flash flood dropped more than 4 inches of rain, stranding more than 1,500 people more. . . At the same time, intense storms and lightning strikes killed 23 people in Europe and Turkeymore. . .Ukraine cut its grain exports as a severe drought reduced crop yields by as much as 60 percent more. . .

In early June, the country of Oman on the Arabian peninsula, was battered by its strongest storm in more than 60 years. The storm thousands from their homes and left at least 20 people dead more . . . In southwestern China, the worst drought in 60 years left more than 4 million people facing drinking water shortages more. . . In the upper midwestern US, an early summer storm spawned severe tornadoes, large hailstones and six inches of rain in one day more. . .

By mid-June, a drought which had affected the southwestern US, spread to cover one-third of the country -- from California to Minnesota to Floridamore. . . At the same time, torrential rains swept through south Asia, leaving 600,000 people homeless in China more. . . leaving more than 107 people dead from mudslides in Bangladesh more. . . and rendering parts of Australia "unrecognizable" to the prime minister more. . . Temperatures exceeded 120* F in northern India where a brutal heatwave killed at least 74 people more. . . An intense cyclone brought heavy rains to Iran, killing more than 20 people and leaving hundreds of millions of dollars in damage more. . . A long drought took a severe toll on the economy of Morocco, as that country's food production dropped by more than 17 percent more . . . In northern and central England, many towns were inundated when the region received as much rain in one day as it normally gets in a month more. . . In north Texas, five people were killed and hundreds of houses and trailers washed away when a deluge dropped as much as an inch of rain every 15 minutes for over and hour more. . .

In the Ukraine, the worst drought in a century devastated farmers, cutting crop yields up to 60 percent and triggering a rapid jump in food prices more. . . At the same time, torrential rains and lightning strikes killed 16 people in eastern Indiamore. . . While in north China, the worst drought in 30 years has left 1.2 million people short of drinking water more. . .Searchers picked through destroyed homes, tangles of downed trees, wrecked cars and sediment up to five feet thick as they looked Friday for three people still missing after a "wall of water" flooded the southeastern Catskills in New York State more. . .

In late June, a severe heat wave settled on southeastern Europe, driving temperatures to 113* F. in Rhodes and leaving nearly 30 people dead more. . .Collapsed houses and severed electrical cables killed at least 228 people after heavy rains and thunderstorms lashed Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi and the neighboring Indian state of Andhra Pradeshmore. . . In southern England, the worst flooding in memory drove thousands of families from their homes more . . .

In late June, researchers announced that the fall-winter of 2006 in Europe was the warmest such season since 1296 more. . . In Greece, one of the worst spring heatwaves in memory triggered dozens of forest fires killing at least two people more. . . As parts of Britain received a month's worth of rain in one day, firefighters in the rescued 3,500 people -- the largest peacetime rescue on record more. . . At the same time, Texas and Oklahoma were inundated by 16 consecutive days of rain which left at least 11 people dead more . . . Simultaneously, southeastern Australia was inundated by its worst flooding in decades as several rivers overflowed their banks after months of intense drought more. . . Meanwhile, continued flooding drove 800,000 people from their homes in Pakistan, even as temperatures reached 109* F. more. . . A severe heatwave settled over the western US with temperatures approaching 125* F. in eastern Californiamore. . . As the brutal western heat wave continued, wildfires in Nevada forced evacuations and consumed more than 55 square miles more . . . In China, the overflow of a shallow lake loosed an invasion of nearly 2 billion mice which are ravaging crops in 22 counties more. . .

In August, the UN reported that the first six months of 2007 were marked by a signficant increase in extreme weather eventsmore. . .